AngularFire2 vs Firebase JS - angularjs

Question

I'm finding the AngularFire2 library to be poorly documented and very hard to use. I have an angular2 app and was wondering if someone could help me clear up the pros/cons of just using the vanilla JS Firebase code rather than angularfire2? Does using the vanilla JS version kill off angular2 functionality that I may be using? I'm confused as to why use one over the other, personally the vanilla JS one is waaaay better documented and feature rich, I can't even see how to Signup Users in AngularFire2, it doesn't have any UI elements and observables are doing my head in!

Answer 1

You can use vanilla version directly. Even with observables - observable and promises work well together. For example:
Observable.of(new firebase.auth.GoogleAuthProvider())
.switchMap(o => firebase.app().auth().signInWithPopup(o))
.subscribe()
Main advantage of AngularFire2 are head-hurting observables (; I suggest you learn rxjs and start using them over promises. I am using vanilla JS SDK, however, I've created refObservable based on what AngularFire2 does with FirebaseObservables. It's simpler, but enough for my needs:
export function refObservable(ref): Observable<firebase.database.DataSnapshot> {
return Observable.create(observer => {
let fn;
try {
fn = ref.on('value', snapshot => {
observer.next(unwrapSnapshot(snapshot));
});
} catch (error) {
observer.error(error);
}
return () => ref.off('value', fn);
});
};
where unwrapSnapshot(snapshot) is simple function that checks snapshot and returns appropriate result (array, object, string, etc...). I use it for reading data from firebase. Create/Update/Delete operations I do directly:
Observable.of(checkUserPermission())
.switchMap(() => {
return firebase.database().ref('what/ever').remove();
});
It's similar with other modules - storage, messaging, auth... I prefer Firebase SDK over AngularFire2. I also find it easier to use in service/web workers.
If you already know vanilla sdk, stick with it.
If you only need database read/write and basic authentication use AngularFire2 it's simpler.
If you need more control over firebase features use JS SDK.